Restoration in Ocean Shores
by Zumiez
Summary: A new person moves into the cul-de-sac and immediately Lars beings to fall for her. His brother, Otto, and Sammy begin to pine after her. Reggie is harboring deep feelings for Lars from a past tryst.
1. Making new friends

**A/N: Obviously don't own Rocket Power or any of that. Not super sure where this story is going but I was motivated to write, so here it is.**

"Why won't you stay together?!" A scream erupted from a garage in a cul-de-sac in ocean shores. Tools angrily smashed around the garage. A young man just over twenty-four smashed a hammer against a sheet of metal on a trailer.

"Ya need some help there?" A young woman asked walking up the drive way.

"What? No. Who are you?" He asked pulling himself away from the trailer.

"Names Jaklyn. Just bought that house over there." She pointed at the Stimpleton's old place. There had been a for sale sign up on the house for nearly three years. The house had gotten more eccentric over the years since Merv had been put into a home. Violet went a little cuckoo and couldn't handle taking care of the house herself. People tried to help but she refused to accept. The grass was over grown, the house was wild colors. Paint didn't match, carpets a wreck. The pool had been drained and never refilled. Concrete was cracked all around the pool. The flower garden full of weeds. The house was not looking great.

"Lars." He offered out his hand. "Did you say buy? Well, I'm impressed." A smile crossed his face as he took in the sight of this woman. Blonde hair wrapped into a bun, yoga pants, a loose blue tshirt covering her torso, and a smile that could knock a man out.

"Yeah, I've been watching it on the market for about a year. Price finally dropped enough to my liking. But there's a lot to do in the house that I don't exactly look forward to doing." She knew what she was getting into but that didn't make it any less overwhelming.

"Well, I am always happy to help. Bit of a handy man myself."

"Oh, I wouldn't have guessed that with you over here screaming at this here trailer." She smiled at him lightly.

"Ah, yeah. Trying to get these sheet metal screws back through here. Rebuilding this trailer to sell." He smacked the side of it. A screw popped out and fell to the ground. He shook his head and laughed a bit.

"I'll be excited to see it when it's done. I'd love to buy a trailer. That's a dream, get out into the country for a trip. Bring the dogs and just enjoy the stars from a hammock." She sighed thinking of a dream she hoped wasn't too far off.

"If you ever find one, I'll be happy to help you rebuild. Or I can sell you this one." He looked at the trailer again. It was so far off from being done. But he got it for a steal.

"Well, if it's ever done. I'll think about it." She winked and smiled. "But I need a very specific build. I want to be able to bring my dogs everywhere, have to raise the bunks and put dog cages under them. At least that's been my thought."

"That's not a problem at all. Could totally retro fit a trailer for that. If you want to hash out ideas I am totally down to figure that out. Oh, jeez. I'm being so rude. Want something to drink? Water? Beer?" He walked over to a fridge in the garage.

"Oh, no thank you. I actually have to get back home. Have to figure out where to start on this monstrosity." She indicated back towards the house.

"Hey, always happy to help. I can give you my number. Shoot me a text pretty much anytime and I can try and adjust my schedule." Lars shook out his hair, little less than shoulder length. A bit messy, ready to be cut but not ready to let it go. Standing around 6'2 with an athletic build.

"Thank you! That's so sweet. Yeah absolutely. No idea what I'll need yet, but definitely painting and flooring. Oh and getting that pool out of there. That is one of my top priorities." She handed him her phone to put in his number.

"None of that is a problem. I can get in contact with some people for you to get rid of the pool. Or the carpet. Or the paint. Whatever you need. I know people. Also, I'd love to see these dogs you keep talking about." He noticed her background picture of her dogs and was certain that would be his way into taking this girl on a date.

"Definitely! They love people. I'll send you a text later?" She started to head back over to her new house.

"Sounds good, chat later!" Oh, no. What did he just say. Is he 70? What even. Chat later? Face flushed red he quickly turned back around to continue working on his trailer. She giggled and waved good-bye as she crossed the cul-de-sac.

Lars quickly grabbed his drill again and powered through screwing the panels back together. He was able to power through getting the outer shell of the trailer back together. He was going over the conversation over and over. He couldn't believe he said chat later. He pressed his head hard against the trailer. Why? Why? Why? Chat later. Well, he totally blew it.

**A/N: It's been a long time since I've written and I have a bit saved still so I can post another update relatively soon. Just putting some feelers out there. It has a pretty heavy focus on Lars and his family but obviously there is an o/c. I think just the one though. The rest of the gang will come in the next few chapters. **


	2. Re-Building Dreams

**A/N: Hey all, still don't own Rocket Power. This chapter is mainly Lars and the OC but the rocket gang is here a bit. Gonna try and rewatch the series in my free time**

Lars was sitting in the garage with a beer reading over his texts. Mostly stuff about the shop and what problems they had with clients and who he had to call because some one messed up. Then a text came through in the group discord.

**Group chat-**  
**Otto: YOOOOOOO! Guys someone bought the Stimps house!**  
**Twister: No way! Are they weird? Some kind of hipster?**  
**Sam: Probably just a person buying and flipping houses.**  
**Reggie: I hope it's someone young!**  
**Otto: No dude, there's dog in their backyard! I haven't seen the person yet. I bet they are weird though. Have to be to buy that house.**  
**Twister: Let's go say hi! Wait should we bring something?**  
Lars read the texts and laughed. After high school the 'gang' started to accept Lars. But it was mostly that he was older and could buy them beer. Still, it was nice to not have a massive rivalry.  
**Lars: Yeah it's a creepy old dude. Hide yo kids, hide yo wives!**  
**Twister: Dang really?!**  
**Otto: Noooooo I wanted a cool person!**  
**Lars: They're a shoobie man, gonna be rough.**  
**Reggie: Lars you're an idiot. Shut up. **  
**Lars: Go see for yourself.**  
He got up and grabbed another beer and went up to his room. Still checking his phone every few minutes hoping this girl would text him soon. It had only been about two hours.

"LARS!" A voice yelled down the hall.

"Yeah?" He responded peering into Twister's room.

"Is it really an old dude? You have the best view of the house! Can you see who they are? I need to know." Twister was ready to shove past Lars to creep out his window.

"I don't know man. It's probably a house flipper." He said heading to his room. He put down his beer and grabbed a pipe off his bed side table. Going through the window of his room he sat on the roof to smoke. While, it was totally legal in California his parents were not about letting him smoke in the house.

"LARS! I need to know!" Twister whined in his door way.

"Oh my god. Chill." Lars said through a heavy cough. Twister sprinted into Lars' room to look out the window.

"Oh my god! Who's that!" Twister said just above a whisper.

"SHHHHHHH!" Lars hushed him. He gave a small wave. Jaklyn waved back.

"YOU KNOW HER?! Who is that?" Twister asked again.

"Yes, that's the new neighbor." Lars chuckled. His phone vibrated. Jaklyn's number crossed his phone.

'Hey neighbor. That offer still stand? Want to come help me assess the damage here?' His eyes lit up. Perfection.  
'Yeah, give me a minute and I'll head over.' Lars quickly texted back.

"Gotta go." He said to Twister as he grabbed his beer and headed out the door.

"What where? Where are you going?" Twister asked bounding down the stairs behind him.

"NOWHERE! BYE!" Lars said shutting the door behind him. Twister opened the door and watched Lars cross the cul-de-sac quickly. He decided to not shout after him. But he quickly realized that Lars had met the new neighbor already.

"Hey neighbor! I'm here to help ya out!" He chimed as he walked up to the back yard.

"Well, howdy sir. Nice to see you again." She replied indicating to the gate. He opened it and went into the yard.

"Alright, darling what should we assess first?" He looked around the yard. It started to hit him how destroyed the yard was. It used to be immaculate. Perfectly cut grass and well pruned flowers. The pool had been the talk of the neighborhood. Now the cement was crumbling and there were weeds coming through. He started wishing he had tried harder to help Merv and Violet. They had thought Merv was just eccentric, but it turns out he had early onset Alzheimer's. Violet eventually had to put him into a home when his inventions became reckless and sometimes a fire hazard. She wasn't able to keep up with the chores herself and couldn't afford to hire anyone. If the yard looked this bad, how bad could it be inside? "Oh." He let out quietly.

"Yeah, it's not pretty." She sighed looking around with him. "I saw pictures of what it looked like a few years ago. Even what it looked like when it went on the market. I want to bring it back to that." She said looking at the once beautiful violet garden.

"Yeah, let's do it. Let's get this into shape. Should definitely get this pool out of here. I know a guy who can get rid of this concrete and fill it with dirt. If that is what you're looking for?" He replied touching the edge of the pool with his foot.

"Definitely, that's something I need gone. I feel like this is such a danger." She said looking into the pool. Thankfully there were stairs in it because her dogs were obsessed with running in and out of it. "But I don't have a ton of money to deal with that."

"Oh, money won't be an issue. I've got people." He pulled out his phone to text Pi. Even with being a complete idiot in high school he managed to get into business with this dad doing concrete work.

"Are you serious? That's amazing. Apparently I made friends with the right person! This is the only project I was really trying to find money for. Everything else shouldn't be too bad." She said eyeing the pool.

"Yep. I got a guy in concrete and he says whenever you want him here he can be. I can have him and his guys pull this out. He'll be happy with some beers so that's about all you'll have to pay for." Lars put his phone away.

"Awesome! Now to just get around my work schedule. I have a few days off with my closing but after that it's back to over nights three to four days a week." She was very excited about the work getting done.

"Over nights? What do you do?" He asked super curious.

"I'm a nurse practitioner." She smiled. She was very proud of what she did and how hard she worked in her field. "Nearly two years now and I'm working on my CRNA so I can get into a specialty clinic. I am also a licensed massage therapist on the side, but I don't practice much anymore."

"Massage? That's awesome. And a nurse? Look at you! Always good to have someone like that around."

"Well, thank you. I'm always happy to help." Her smile was absolutely infectious. "I never asked, what do you do?"

"I'm a partial owner to an auto body. We buy, sell and repair cars." He smiled. He liked what he did and honestly didn't have to go in all that much. But he owned it because of his dad so it wasn't an amazing accomplishment. "But I mostly flip trailers, sometimes cars."

"That's awesome to hear. I love working on cars. I've got a Silverado in the garage that I fixed up myself." She looked like a kid in a candy store pulling open the garage door in the back. A dark green 2500 sat in the garage. No rust, lifted and waxed. His eyes were bright.

"Wow. So much wow. You are just... impressive." He said looking at the car. "Can you pop the hood?" He asked.

"Uh duh!" She raced to pop the hood. He admired her work, the truck, her. Everything.

"Where did you learn all this?" He asked closing the hood.

"Mostly youtube, but also my grandpa. I had to constantly fix my car to get through high school and college. Then I got to the point of just fixing it for fun because it was cheaper and I could have a better car that way." She smiled and put a hand on the truck. It was definitely a pride moment for her.

"God you are fantastic. Hey, where are those dogs of yours? I haven't heard them at all." Lars said after realizing he hadn't even heard them bark.

"Oh, they don't tend to bark. Come meet them." She said pulling open the door to the house. Four dogs came running into the living room. "This is Estrella." She indicated to a cream colored dog looking like a cross between a husky and a golden retriever. "Tierra." A german shepard and husky mix. "Orion." She pointed to a lab and border collie mix. "And Luna." She pointed to a husky who started talking how huskies do.

"They are adorable! I love them!" He said petting all of them.

"OH! Can I get you a drink? Water? Tea? Beer?" She asked heading into the kitchen. Lars began to look around the house and really took in the hellish condition of it. Violet really wasn't able to keep up with the house. There was soot and dirt everywhere. Cobwebs. The house had been sitting for quite some time with no one in it.

"A beer would be great." He said following her. The kitchen was a mess, floors filthy and cabinets falling of the hinges. None of the work was truly hard to do. Just a lot of it.

"Not a problem." She opened the fridge. "Uh. Actually is a pineapple ale okay?" She realized she hadn't actually bought beer like she had planned.

"Yeah, sure why not." He extended his hand for the drink. "So what plans do you have for the place?" He asked looking around.

"A lot. I plan on scrubbing the place clean. Fresh coats of paint, new floorings. Sanding and redoing these cabinets. I want to replace the windows but they aren't terrible. And getting that backyard fixed up. I have been designing a beautiful pergola to put up." Her eyes wandered outside. She was ready to have her dream and home. She had worked so hard for so long to get where she is.

"Well, let's do this then. You've got my help, I know people. And I know some awesome people right here in the cul-de-sac who can help. Let's make this place look fantastic." He was excited to do some home projects. To help someone achieve their dream.

"Thank you. Honestly. I am shocked by how nice people are here and it's truly something enjoyable. I didn't grow up in the best area but here I am!" She was enthusiastic and finally felt like she was in a good place.

"I'm glad. You want to just relax for a bit? Want to grab food? Or order in?" Lars was smitten. He was absolutely taken by this girl. Who he really knew nothing about.

"That sounds great. What do you think? I don't know that much around here."

"Let's go to the shore shack. It's not too far and the burgers are good." Lars knew that statement was true but he totally wanted to show her off at the Shore Shack because he figured the 'gang' would be there.

"Sounds good to me. I'll drive." She said pulling out her cars keys. "You pups be good!" She said headed to the garage. Lars followed her out and jumped in her truck. He directed her to the parking area near the Shore Shack and they walked in. Heads turned, tourists were never surprising but when Lars walked in with a girl it was pretty shocking. He was known as a recluse. No one really saw him anymore.

"Lars! Hello!" Tito's voice boomed "And who is this?" He asked indicating to Jaklyn.

"This is Jaklyn she bought the Stimpleton's house." Lars said introducing her.

"Aloha Jaklyn! Welcome to the Shore Shack. Let me bring you something special." Tito said as he plopped new meat on the grill.

"Well, aloha to you too." She smiled and looked slightly confused.

"That's just Tito. He's cool though. He will make something fantastic." They sat on stools at the counter and chatted about her ideas for the house and what she wanted done. Tito served them their burgers. Lars took a peek at his phone, 78 text messages. Almost all from the group chat. Oh well.

"LARS!" A voice shouted from behind him.

"Yes, MAURICE?" He questioned turning around to see his brother walking towards him.

"I just wanted to say hi, sorry." He sat on the stool to the left of his brother. "Oh, who is this?" He asked, smile wide and bright on his face.

"Jaklyn, this is my brother. MAURICE." He said angrily. Hoping his brother would just go away.

"It's Twister, but nice to meet you." He shook out his shaggy orange hair and smiled. Only the smile Twister could do. Naïve but alluring. He offered out his hand for a hand shake.

"Pleasure is all mine. Lars didn't mention a brother. Maybe you could come help us clean up the house, if you're free." A bright smile crossed her face and her green eyes lit up. Was she being friendly? Was she interested in Twister?

"Oh, I certainly can be free." He jabbed Lars in the ribs and didn't let his smile fade.

"Awesome. Definitely need all the help I can get! Would love to actually get my stuff in the house!" She was thrilled at the prospect of not living on an air mattress.

"You betcha! I can bring Reggie, Otto and the Squid over to help too. Oh, Lars maybe mom will come help. She loves cleaning." Twister had an evil look in his eye and tried not to giggle.

"Oh! I'd love to meet your mom!" Jaklyn seemed genuinely interested. "Did you say Squid, who is that?"

"Oh, his name is Sammy. But we call him Squid. Oh, I'm sure mom would be delighted to come help." Twister tried not to giggle. He truly had a devious idea forming.

"Mom would not like to help and you know it. Shush Twist. I'll talk to you later. Come on, Jaklyn. Let's get to the store and look at some paint or flooring." Lars said standing up and putting money on the counter.

"Why wouldn't she want to help?" Jaklyn asked walking with Lars up to her truck.

"She probably would but _Twister_ was being annoying on purpose. Figured I'd get up over to the store so we can pick out some stuff for your place." Lars said as they approached the truck.

They hit Home Depot and they worked together to pick out paints. Jaklyn browsed through the paint samples trying to decide what she wanted to go for in each room. Eventually she picked out the colors and schemes she wanted with the help of Lars, who has a surprising eye for color.

"On to flooring? Thinking of going with wood or carpet?" He asked as the walked through the flooring department.

"I think I'd like to do wood and get some rugs and runners to put down for the dogs." She said looking at all the different wood floorings.

"It's a good call. Any rooms you want to tile? Kitchen? Bathroom?" Lars asked pointing to all the tile just up the aisle.

"Kitchen I want the same kind of greyish wood I picked for the house. Bathroom though, I'm thinking a grey porcelain tile. I should probably re-think all of this grey." She laughed as she realized everything she picked was grey.

"We can work with this though. Nothing wrong with a flowing color. Gives continuity to the house instead of breaking it up. Do you want wood in all the bedrooms too? Or carpet?"

"Wood. I think. Yes. Grey." She laughed and shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"For what? It's your house. Nothing wrong with grey. You just accent the rooms with color. Gives a theme and shows personality." He pointed to a tile he thought would work well in the bathroom.

"You are brilliant. I appreciate this, I think I would have been on the floor crying by now if it wasn't for your help." Her eyes were entirely sincere with her response.

"Well, I'm happy to be of service. We can figure out square footage and grab this stuff tomorrow. Gotta clean out the house and get rid of all the carpet first. Let's get a bunch of killz and some grey paint to do the walls the base color while we have the floors all torn up, so we have less to tape." They walked back over to the paint and looked at each brand. Lars gave the information to the man in the paint department and had the paint mixed up. They left with two five-gallon buckets of grey and killz paint.

"I want you to remember how easy it is to change paint colors. So do not panic about paint, okay?" He said reassuringly as he put the buckets in the bed of the truck.

"Okay." She released a big breath and let her shoulders drop. She hadn't even realized how tense she was. "Thank you." She sighed getting into the truck.

They arrived back at the house and unloaded the truck. Jaklyn quickly turned on some upbeat music on Pandora. Sno the Product radio played over her Bluetooth speaker.

"I am about this, I like this station." Lars said singing along to the song.  
The two spent a few hours tearing up carpet and dragging it out the house. Things looked different once they called it quits for the night. Carpets all torn up down to the flooring underneath. Nothing spectacular but the rooms were ready to be wiped down and painted.

"Thank you so much for you help." She squeaked as they hauled another ream of carpet out the door.

"Absolute pleasure. I'll see if Pi can stop in tomorrow to rip out that pool. And maybe we can get some paint on these walls tomorrow." A tired smile remained on his face.

"Thank you again. I hope you sleep well." She said standing on the porch as Lars was getting ready to head home. It was nearly midnight.

"You too, if you have issues sleeping feel free to text me." He hugged her and headed across the cul-de-sac.

"Night, Lars." She smiled closing the door behind her. She let the dogs out and laid on her air mattress. A text came through that had her smiling. The two texted back and forth, Jaklyn slowly fell asleep while Lars stayed up being annoyed by Twister.

Sitting in the kitchen with his mom and Twister, Lars tried to ignore the pestering questions.

"Ay, mijo! Quien es ella?" His mother pestered asking question after question.

"Guys! She's nice. She's the new neighbor. She's a nurse. She has dogs. What do you want from me?" Lars responded back to Jaklyn every chance he got as his mom and brother annoyed him.

"Why can't I meet her?" Twister chimed in.

"You did meet her, just go over there and say hi. We have to paint tomorrow, so feel free to come help!" Lars retorted so tired of all the questions.

"Ay dios mio! Lars!" An exasperated sigh came from Sandy. She just wanted details on this new girl in the neighborhood. Would she be taking up her boys' time? Be an asset to the neighborhood? Was she Latina? Thousands of questions flooded her mind. And she needed to know.

"I'm going to bed, please stop with the questions. You'll get to know her, or you won't." Lars said trudging up the stairs. They had been asking questions for nearly two hours. Non-stop questions. Mostly things he didn't have answers for. About her heritage and where she grew up. Did she come from a good family or did she do drugs. So many questions that he didn't need to delve into with her just yet. He changed into a pair of sweat pants and got ready to try and sleep.

"Lars! I have more questions." Twister said walking into Lars' room.

"No. Please. No." He held a pillow over his face. Maybe he'd suffocate before Twister would get through his next five hundred questions.

"Can I ask her on a date? Can I come help you paint? Does she need flooring work? How about cleaning?" Twister asked in rapid fire.

"Oh my god! Are you five? No. I don't care. Yes. Yes. Please go away." He grumbled from under the pillow.

"Why are you the worst? I have so many questions." Twister insisted from the door way.

"PLEASE GO AWAY! I JUST WANT TO SLEEP!" He howled trying his best to ignore his brother.

"FINE!" Twister slammed the door behind him and stormed into his room. "No good brother. Always getting the girl first." Twister opened his phone to read a text that had come through.

'Twist, I cannot believe how involved Lars is with that girl already! He's been ignoring me all day.' Reggie had texted. Twister gave a heavy sigh. Again with all the girls. Jaklyn and Reggie. I'm sure plenty of others.

'He was helping her fix the house up. I'm going over tomorrow to help.' He responded. So tired of Reggie only showing interest in his brother. Every girl showing interest in his brother.

'So ridiculous.' She responded rather quickly.

'Yeah, I guess.' He replied and put his phone down. His shaggy orange hair all over his pillow. He laid there wearing a pair of basketball shorts and a tshirt. His thoughts wandered as he fell asleep.

**A/N: Hey guys hope you're still reading! Just started back at school and a full time job so bleh! Hoping to keep writing for you guys would love to know what you think and ideas! **


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